Toronto ComiCon invades convention centre

The Moffat girls dressed as their favourite Batman characters on March 7, 2014. Tamara is the Riddler, Natasha as Catwoman , Tatiana as Poison Ivy and Melissa as the original BatGirl. ComiCon runs all weekend at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre south building. (Jack Boland/Toronto Sun)

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Well, at the very least, the Metro Toronto Convention Centre’s south building this weekend.

More than 20,000 people, some expected to dress up in superhero costumes, will flock to the third-annual Toronto ComiCon — an expo for all things pop-culture, including comic books, gaming, anime, science-fiction and horror.

“All of these cons, the whole genre is expanding,” said president Steve Menzie of FanExpo Canada, which also runs similar larger-scale event in August that is celebrating its 20th year. “A big part of the experience is interacting with other people in their community, so it’s looking at all the costumes and random flash-mob scenes.”

Among some of the stars include Giancarlo Esposito, who played Gustavo Fring on the AMC TV show Breaking Bad; IronE Singleton, known for his portrayal of Theodore “T-Dog” Douglas on The Walking Dead; Brandon Routh, who played Superman; and Sean Astin and Billy Boyd from the Lord of the Rings movies.

“We have all kinds of well known comic book artists and celebrity guests doing signings and photo-ops and there’s a ton of retailers,” Menzie said. “We run panels throughout the weekend and hearing Q&As with all our celebrity talent.”

And while FanExpo still has a long way to catch up with world-renowned San Diego Comic-Con — which brings in 126,000 people each summer — Menzie said Hogtown is becoming more engaged with their inner and outer nerd each passing year.

“San Diego has been around some 43 or 44 years and it does now take over the entire city,” he said. “But we’ve now taken over the entire convention centre and we’re starting to look at doing off-site events. We’d even like to have a street festival component in the next two years. For FanExpo in August, we sell more than 12,000 hotel nights over the four days — and we’re looking to expand that.”

The show runs Saturday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Toronto ComiCon invades convention centre

Well, at the very least, the Metro Toronto Convention Centre’s south building this weekend.

More than 20,000 people, some expected to dress up in superhero costumes, will flock to the third-annual Toronto ComiCon — an expo for all things pop-culture, including comic books, gaming, anime, science-fiction and horror.

“All of these cons, the whole genre is expanding,” said president Steve Menzie of FanExpo Canada, which also runs similar larger-scale event in August that is celebrating its 20th year. “A big part of the experience is interacting with other people in their community, so it’s looking at all the costumes and random flash-mob scenes.”